Chuck is the eponymous twentieth and final studio album by American rock and roll singer and guitarist Chuck Berry, released in June 2017. Berry died between the announcement of its recording on his 90th birthday in October 2016 and its release. It posthumously became his first UK Top 10 chart entry since 1977, debuting at No. 9. This is the first Berry studio album to be released in almost four decades. It was positively received by critics who considered it a return to form and a poignant last statement.
Overview
Chuck is Berry's first album in 38 years to consist of mainly new material, since his 1979 record Rockit. The album is dedicated to his wife Thelmetta "Toddy" Berry. The album was announced on Berry's 90th birthday, October 18, 2016, with a release date in 2017. Performers on the album include his live backing band as well as his children. Prior to his death on March 18, 2017, it was implied that this album was to be his last.
Recording and releases
Recording was completed on schedule before his death, for which his estate was prepared. On March 21, 2017—three days after Berry's death—it was announced that the album would be released on June 16, 2017. Also on March 21, a song from the new album was released—Berry's first single in 40 years—entitled "Big Boys". The tune is an upbeat rock and roll song about a teenager wanting to do all the things that grownups do. The album features 10 new recordings, including a sequel to his 1958 track "Johnny B. Goode" entitled "Lady B. Goode", and a re-recording of his 1956 song "Havana Moon", retitled and revised lyrically to become "Jamaica Moon".
Critical reception
Chuck received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 72, based on 16 reviews. Exclaim! critic Daniel Sylvester believed the songs sounded familiar but still distinct from one another, as "Berry covers a lot of musical ground on Chuck, and most importantly, reveals just how much fun he was still having at the end of his storied life." Noel Murray from The A.V. Club credited the record for making "a casually profound closing statement". Writing for Vice, Robert Christgau regarded Chuck as "both a summation put his all into and a little something he might have followed up if he hadn't up and died at 90". Christgau called the musician "mischievous and horny and locked in", showcasing "undiminished guitar" playing, strong vocals, and shrewd lyrics on "eight well-crafted new ones and two savvy covers that indicate he's learned a few things—the warm songs to the long-suffering wife he married in 1948 and the progeny who chime in like they've earned it have the kind of detail he always reserved for his fictions, musical and otherwise."
Track listing
All songs written by Chuck Berry, except as shown.
